Imparting relief patterns into building surfaces traditionally was and still is labor intensive, and typically performed by craftsman trained to work with specific materials such as stone, wood, metal, terra-cotta and plaster. Even when labor was less expensive than it is today, the cost of covering an entire wall with a relief pattern was reserved for the most important structures such as churches, government buildings and homes of the wealthy. Otherwise pattern treatments were usually limited to trim, moldings and smaller panels set within larger flat wall surfaces. Presently, builders have several options for creating such relief patterns.
For example there are numerous manufacturers of specialty trims and moldings made from a variety of materials such as reinforced modified plasters, plastics, foams, wood press-board and modified and/or autoclaved cementitious materials. Molds and/or forming machines can readily be made to form patterns in the materials listed above. However, each mold represents a large tooling and proto-typing expense. The expense and market research required to determine marketable relief patterns often times presents an unacceptable risk for most companies in today's ever changing and volatile consumer markets. At this time there are few, if any, manufacturers producing durable marketable cladding systems that allow for standard and custom relief patterns to be milled or carved into their surfaces.
For example, FUTURA COATINGS, INC. manufactures and distributes a coating system that is designed to be sprayed over foam substrates that may be sculpted, carved or cut. These foam substrates are shaped into sculptures, special theme park installations, decorative trim and other repetitive architectural elements and sprayed with a hard-shell polyurethane coating. The process of spraying polyurethane is expensive and must be applied in a controlled environment with special equipment and exhaust requirements. This limits the product's application to repetitive elements such as balusters, trim moldings or special environments such as theme parks and museums whose high degree of patronage can offset the relatively high costs. Similarly, several manufacturers, such as STO, DRVIT, and PAREX offer an E.I.F.S. (exterior insulation and finishing system) cladding material which utilizes acrylic modified plaster materials and reinforcing mesh designed to surface foam, wood or masonry substrates. Several companies, on a custom basis, will carve or route signage and other patterns into the foam substrate. The more complex the pattern, the more labor intensive and difficult it becomes to embed the reinforcing mesh within the base coat of the E.I.F.S. cladding material. Even moderately complex patterns make it difficult to use the heavier gage meshes that many end users require for durable surfaces required in high use and abuse areas. Consequently multiple layers of light gage mesh must be used to achieve high strength surfaces. This approach, however, increases labor and materials costs and can diminish the clarity in the relief pattern. Thus, the majority of complex surface relief patterns in E.I.F.S. cladding systems are planar in nature and are achieved either by adding a second layer of foam over the base layer or by routing simple horizontal or vertical bands in the base foam layer. This approach is typically used for door and window trim casings or horizontal banding to provide interest on a particular building. More ornate patterns and signage are usually located in protected areas or higher locations where they are out of high traffic/impact areas. Also, manufacturers of concrete masonry units (C.M.U.) and autoclaved (high heat-steam cured) concrete cladding board products have introduced limited repeat patterns cast or molded into their surfaces. While some of these manufacturers have products with desirable patterns and shadow casting capabilities, they are limited in their diversity. This is due to tooling costs and the risk of committing to an expansive product line and inventory.
Also, a cellular structure panel has been used in various cladding systems. NORFIELD corporation manufactures a variety of panels, denoted NORCORE panels, that have a honeycomb plastic core material. The NORCORE panels are used as glue bonding surfaces for various veneers. However, the NORCORE panels do not provide for milling relief patterns into the panel. The NORCORE panels are not designed to have patterns etched or milled in their surfaces by traditional wood working tools. Further, the NORCORE panels are also not designed to retain plaster or other similar materials that change from an initially plastic state and cure or set into a monolithic, hard and durable material. The NORCORE panels do not allow for either uniform cell infill capability from one side or any type of inherent mechanical keying and infill retention features.
Thus there is a need for an economical, durable, impact resistant, hard coat cladding system that can economically receive an endless variety of low-medium relief patterns in its surface. A cladding system is needed which would allow contractors in the field to easily modify and size the cladding surface material with standard wood working tools as required by changing field conditions and the design parameters called for by the architects and designers. The present invention satisfies these needs and provides a new cladding system that can readily receive low to medium relief patterns on walls, columns, beams, and ceiling surfaces.